Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Unions Ask Congress to Demand That President Trump Reinstate Fired NIOSH Workers
Working people across the United States regularly step up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
On Thursday, the AFL-CIO and 27 labor unions urged members of Congress to pressure the Trump administration to reverse its effort to gut the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). More than 85% of NIOSH staff have been placed on administrative leave and will be terminated in June without action. NIOSH plays a crucial role in protecting workers on the job, and without a fully staffed and functioning agency, the number of tragic and avoidable workplace injuries and fatalities will increase.
“[I]n its attempt to restructure the Department of Health and Human Services using artificial intelligence, the so-called ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ functionally dismantled NIOSH—one of the most critical and impactful agencies to every worker in America, their families and to industries alike,” the labor organizations wrote. “This decision must be immediately reversed as it will take working conditions back centuries, when chronic occupational diseases and fatalities skyrocketed with no government agency to help identify causes and research interventions.”
Read the full letter and list of signatories here.
Kenneth Quinnell
Mon, 05/05/2025 – 09:53